US must show goodwill if it seeks to hold talks with Iran: Lawmaker

A senior Iranian lawmaker has decried the contradiction between the US words and actions, urging Washington to show goodwill if it seeks to hold talks with the Islamic Republic.
“The Americans are not honest in their words....there is no consistency in their words and actions,” Spokesman for the Majlis (parliament) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told ISNA on Friday.
Foreign media claim that the US president is preparing the ground for holding talks with Iran. However, immediately after his re-election, Barack Obama extended the state of emergency order against Iran, he added.
The Iranian legislator emphasized that if the US government seeks to hold talks with Iran, it must prove its goodwill at the very least through measures such as the delaying of sanctions.
On November 9, Obama extended the state of emergency order against Iran for another one year as American lawmakers plan to impose a set of new sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear energy program.
“Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated Jan. 19, 1981, is still under way,” Obama said in the notice to the House and Senate.
Naqavi Hosseini emphasized that remarks about Washington’s negotiations with Tehran are for domestic consumption in the US.
In October, Chairman of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei makes the decision for Iran to enter into bilateral negotiations with the US if expedient.
“Anytime the interests of the Islamic Republic necessitate direct negotiations with the United States… such a decision [to hold the talks] will be made by the Leader,” he explained. “Such a decision has not currently been made.”
SF/MA/AZ